Devotional Literature in South Asia: Current Research, 1985-1988.

• Author: Entwistle, Alan

Edited by R. S. McGregor. University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, no. 46. Cambridge: Cambrige University Press, 1992. Pp. xv + 322. $99.95.

Like many other collections of conference papers, this is a mixed bag, but anyone concerned with bhakti and post-classical Indian literature should find at least a few articles of interest. Most of the contributions deal with early vernacular bhakti literature, but there are also some on more or less peripheral topics, such as theology, religious practices, sectarian organization, and sacred places. The literature discussed ranges over the past seven centuries and represents various religious traditions and six New Indian Aryan languages, with some reference to Sanskrit, Arabic, and even Chinese sources (viz., Jin Dinghan's comparison of Tulsidas and Confucius). The volume has been ably edited by R. S. McGregor, who has attempted to give coherency to the twenty-seven papers by grouping them into eight thematic sections, three of which consist of just two papers.

The largest section deals with the literary and religious traditions of Maharashtra. V. D. Kulkarni introduces and summarizes Pandit Bhismacarya's Pancavartika (A.D. 1338), arguing that the work should no longer be regarded as an early grammar of Marathi, but as a "grammar of bhakti," since it is in fact a semantic analysis" of the sutras of Cakradhara (the founder of the Mahanubhava movement). Catharina Kiehnle considers the authenticity of songs attributed to Jnandev. She has made use of manuscript sources that contain some 150 additional unpublished songs, and gives further evidence to confirm that Jnandev's Gatha contains many abhangas composed by his real or would-be followers. Erik Reenberg Sand describes how Marathi versions of the Pundalika legend elaborate on Sanskrit mahatmya texts that extol devotion to one's parents and claim that Krsna became manifest at Pandharpur in order to reward this form of devotion. S. G. Tulpule gives a summation of "autobiographical" references in the works of Tukaram, and Christopher Shelke likens Ramdas' concept of the Sadguru to the Holy Spirit, as represented by three Catholic mystics. G. Morje's paper, an assortment of disparate facts about some of the items Varkaris wear or smear on their bodies, gives more details about railway connections to Pandharpur than about literature.

Another Marathi text, the Ekanathi-bhagavat, is dealt with in a section on the interaction between Islamic and Indian...